IlC 2851 
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Southland College 



History 



OF 



Southland College 



ISSUKD UY AUTHORirV OK 



Indiana Yearly Meeting of 

The Friends S^^joJo, ^ j-vcXl^ 




ulljr NirlTolauu Prrsa 

RICHMOND, INDIANA 
1906 



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PREFACE 

'T^ HIS booklet is intended to give Friends a better knowl- 
edge of tbe notable work done by members of Indiana 
Yearly Meeting, of the religions society of The Friends at the 
close of the late civil war in behalf of the wives and children 
of the Freedmen. The record presented in these pages shows 
that the Friends have ever been the friend of the lowly and 
oppressed, regardless of race or color. The work done at 
Southland from its inception to the present time has not been 
devoid of excellent fruit in the line of character-building, and 
righteousness ; for from out its walls hundreds have gone 
with the message of helpfulness, and life to others, having 
learned the same within its walls by right living and faith in 
Christ. 



This sketch is issued by tlie Missionary Board, in charge 
of Southland College under the authority of Indiana Yearly 
Meeting of The Friends, Richmond. Indiana. 1906. 

By minute No. 35, 1901, Timothy Nicholson, Elkanah 
Beard, Samuel Dickinson, Eli Jay and Charles W. Osborn, 
were appointed to prepare a history of Southland College 
from its beginning to the present time. 

By minute No. 99. 1902. the committee was continued. 

By minute No. 91, 1903, Edward Bellis was added to the 
committee. 

By minute No. 38, 1904, the report after its reading 
was referred to the Missionary Board on Southland for some 
corrections and additions, with request to report next year. 

By minute No. 37, 1905, the committee continued last 
year by minute No. 38. relative to a History of Southland 
College, now produce a complete report, and are authorized 
to have it printed in pamphlet form. 



iMISSIONARY BOARD 

Missionary Board of Southland College, reorganized for 
the ensuing year, Ninth month, 1905, to Ninth month, 1906, 
stands : 

Edward Bellis, Corresponding Secretary. 

Charles M. Jenkins, Recording Secretary. 

Elizabeth P. Hill, Carthage, Ind. 

Cynthia Shaffer, R. R. 3, New Castle, Ind. 

Edwin S. Jay, Henley Road, Richmond, Ind. 

Mary A. Jay Ballard, Richmond, Ind. 

Barclay Johnson, R. R. 3, Fairmount, Ind. 

Clarkson H. Parker, Carthage, Ind. 

Mary E. Baldwin, 2211 S. Meridian St., Marion, Ind. 

Committee to investigate qualifications of teachers and 
engage them : 

Barclay Johnson, Chairman ; Mary A. Jay Ballard, Eliza- 
beth P. Hill, Clarkson H. Parker. 

Committee to finish History : 

Edward Bellis, Mary A. Jay Ballard, C. M. Jenkins. 

N. B. — There have been only two corresponding secre- 
taries, viz.: Joseph Dickinson, 1864-1896; Edward Bellis, 
189^. 



History of Southland College 

Near Helena, Arkansas 



INTRODUCTORY 

OOOX after the rise of Friends in England, some of them 
^-^ emigrated to the Xew England Colonies, and to Mary- 
land, \'irginia and the Carolinas; and others by banishment 
were consigned to the West Indies. In those locations some 
of them early Ijccame owners of slaves in imitation of the 
colonists around them. At that time there does not seem to 
have been any doubt that slaveholding was compatible with 
Christian profession and conduct. 

In 1671 George Fox. William Edmundson and others 
visited Barbadoes. and although they were not favorably im- 
pressed by the system of slavery existing there, Fox did not 
condemn it. only admonishing those that held slaves to bear 
in mind that they were their brethren, and to train them up 
in the fear of God. to deal gently and mildly with them, and 
after certain years of servitude to make them free. 

Four years after this Edmundson revisited the island 
and bore such testimony against the unjust treatment of slaves, 
that he was arraigned before the governor, on a charge of 
endeavoring to excite insurrection among the slaves. He ad- 
dressed a remonstrance to Friends in ^Maryland and Virginia 
in which he condemned slavery as incompatible with Christi- 
anity. Ap])rehension of this truth gradually grew upon the 
Friends ; individuals here and there becoming convinced of 
the evils and inconsistency of holding their fellowmen in bond- 
age, and then by loving and faithful presentation of their 
views, after a lapse of one hundred years, slaveholding was 
eliminated from the Society of Friends. 

Slavery was abolished in Philadelphia and Xew York 
Yearly IMeetings in 1776: X'ew England Yearly Meeting is 
said to have had no slaves in 1782; and in 1784 X'irginia Year- 



S History of Southland College 

iy Meeting directed the monthly meetings to disown those 
who persisted in holding slaves. As early as 1786 a query in 
North Carolina Yearly Meeting was, "Are Friends clear of 
purchasing, disposing of, or holding mankind as slaves ?" But 
few disownments, however, were necessary to clear the Society 
of slaveholding. The Friends generally yielded to the Chris- 
tian consideration brought to bear upon them and afterwards 
seem to have regarded the colored people within their limits 
as wards requiring their oversight and care. 

We find that in the organization of Indiana Yearly 
Meeting in 1821 a large committee was appointed to have 
charge of the subject of "African descendents ;" and each 
Quarterly Meeting was to appoint an auxiliary committee to 
have charge of the people of color within its limits and re- 
port was to be made annually to the Yearly Meeting. These 
committees advised the colored people in their temporal af-- 
fairs ; they assisted them in the education of their children, 
frequently spending two or three hundred dollars a year for 
books and tuition. They saw that each family had a copy of 
the Scriptures; and from about 1840 they organized and en- 
couraged First-day or Sunday Schools amongst them. They 
also looked after those who were kidnapped or illegally held 
in bondage, rescuing at different times a dozen or more al- 
ways at considerable expense. One boy, eleven years old, 
kidnapped in Richmond, Indiana, and sold in St. Louis, Mis- 
souri, was rescued at a cost of one hundred and seventy-eight 
dollars, twelve and a half cents. Another case was a man res- 
cued from Texas at a cost of over six hundred dollars. At- 
torneys and witnesses were sent from the North in both cases. 
This committee was very faithful to its trust during the forty- 
three years of its appointment, never failing to report annually 
and accomplishing much for the colored people. 

In its report in 1863 it states that but few if any colored 
children within the limits of the Yearly Meeting were growing 
up without some literary instruction. They also say : "The 
committee, taking into consideration the change of circum- 
stances in relation to the colored man in our country since 
the organization of this committee and the vast field that is 
open for labor among those that have recently acquired their 



History of Southland College 9 

freedom, are united in suggesting to the Yearly Meeting the 
propriety of taking the whole subject into consideration, and 
if way opens provide, either through this or a new committee, 
for more effectual and organized labors for their relief." 

These changed conditions spoken of had reference to 
former slaves of the South within the lines of the Union army 
in circumstances requiring help from their friends in the 
North. In this emergency (Governor Morton of Indiana had 
appealed to Friends to assist in caring for them. 

In accordance with the above suggestion a committee 
was appointed whose labors were to be directed specialh- to 
the relief of the physical necessities of the Freedmen and their 
advancement in knowledge and religion. The committee was 
given executive power. They were directed to meet frequent- 
ly and regularly ; to employ agents and teachers ; and to re- 
port to the Yearly Meeting the funds distributed and the 
work done. Quarterly and Monthly Meetings were directed 
to appoint committees for the purpose of raising money and 
collecting clothing and other necessities for the Freedmen to 
be distributed by this committee. 

The committee found a large and needy field, and they 
entered upon the work with energy. They had twentv-eight 
thousand dollars placed at their disposal. They emploved 
twenty-one agents and teachers, and most of their work was 
clothing and caring for the destitute, though schools were also 
established and meetings held among the Freedmen. 

At the urgent request of General Buford, Post Command- 
ant at Helena, the committee established an Orphan Asylum 
at that place under the care of Calvin and Alida Clark, with 
Susan Horney and Martha Ann Macy as teachers. This was 
done April, 1864. 

In 1864 the committee was increased to twelve members ; 
some of the old ones resigned, not being able to endure the 
work required of them. Twenty-three thousand dollars in 
money besides a vast amount of clothing and other necessaries 
were at the disposal of this committee. In addition to min- 
istering to the physical wants of the Freedmen, they estab- 
lished schools in various places for children and adults, and 
religious instruction was given in all places where our teachers 



10 



History of Southland College 



were located. Two more Orphan Asylums were established, 
one at Lauderdale, Mississippi, and one at Little Rock, Ar- 
kansas. At this time Susan Horney resigned her position as 
teacher in the Orphan Asylum at Helena and established an 
industrial school for colored women, where they were taught 
to cut and make garments ; this school continued twenty-three 
weeks in which time 225 women were given instruction and 
over 1,000 garments were made. 





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CALVIN CLARK 



In 1866 Colonel Bentzoni, then in command at Helena,, 
received orders to put the buildings, used as Orphan Asylums, 
in possession of their owners. Shortly after receiving the 
order in regard to the Asylum buildings, the Colonel called, 
on Alida Clark and the question of what to do with the orphan 
children, then numbering about 80, was the subject of con- 



History of Soutiii.axd College 



11 



versation. The Colonel proposed the purchase of some land 
and the erection hy the Rej^inient of suitable buildings and 
presented a rude sketch of the houses he thought necessary 
to l)e erected. Alida Clark recognized him as God's instru- 
ment to meet the difficulties then confronting them about 
wliich slie had spent hours on her knees in ])raver. 




CHAS bp:ntzoni 

Lieut. -Col. U. S. Army, (latet Colonel SHth U S. Colored Iiif.iiitry 

Charles Bentzoni was Ixirn in Prussia in 1830; began learning the 
l)usiness of a .soldier at tlie age of seventeen; emigrated to the 
United States in 1857; entered the army and was made lieutenant of 
the 11th U. S. Infantry in 1861, and three years later was appointed 
Colonel of the 56th Regiment of the U. S. Colored Infantry, taking 
command of them at Helena. 



Accordingly thirty acres of land lying about nine miles 
northwest of Helena were purchased on which were erected 



12 



History of Southland College 



suitable but cheap buildings for the accommodation of the 
Asylum, and deeded to Indiana Yearly Meeting. Each officer 
and private contributed a certain per cent, of his wages to 
cover the cost, and men were detailed each week to work on 
the buildings till completed. The land and buildings were 
valued at $4,000.00. 

The new quarters of the Asylum were dedicated by the 
Colonel and other officers and men of the regiment marching 
out in military style nine miles and planting the flag in front 
of the house, giving three cheers and firing three rounds in 
honor of the old flag. Then the Asylum managers, teachers 
and visitors, all white, with the regiment and children marched 
to a grove where was a speaker's stand and also seats and 
a table one hundred feet long spread by the Quartermaster. 
Calvin and Alida Clark were seated on the stand. The Colonel 




ALIDA CLARK 



History of Southland Coli.kge 13 

read the amounts given by each company, and the deed to 
the property, which, on behalf of the regiment, he handed to 
AHda Clark, who received it on behalf of Indiana Yearly 
Meeting, assuring them that the trust would not be betrayed, 
and pledging the Bible as the foundation of all teaching in 
the Asylum, w'hich called forth hearty aniens. Chaplain Brooks 
followed in a speech honoring Friends. The Colonel and 
officers called upon the children to sing, in which they ac- 
quitted themselves honorably, when he and Adjutant Samuel 
T. Clark each gave the children a nice talk, followed by re- 
freshments. The boys were dressed in new linen i)ants and 
shirts, with new straw hats ; and the girls in new calico dresses 
and Shaker bonnets neatly trimmed. 

The reports of 1869 state that 29 children had been placed 
in homes the past year, and only three remained of that class. 
Nineteen young persons had been selected and were being 
trained in the Asylum for teachers. Thus the Asylum was 
merged into a school or normal institution. The whole num- 
ber of children admitted into the Asylum from its first open- 
ing was three hundred and sixty. Of these thirty-six died, 
fifty-six were claimed by parents, nineteen left without per- 
mission, and eighty were taken by order of the government 
and placed in homes in St. Louis, nineteen were educated as 
teachers, and the remainder placed in homes mostly in Phillips 
County. Arkansas, near the Asylum. 

Shortly after the removal of the Asylum to the countr}-. 
fifty acres of land were bought by the Yearly Meeting and 
added to the grounds. This eighty acre tract constitutes the 
college grounds today. It lies with the long way north and 
south, with the south end. on which the liuildings are lo- 
cated, fronting a public road running east and west. The 
land is comparatively level, productive, and parts of it 
somewhat wet. though susceptible of drainage. 

During the first five years of the labors of the Executive 
Committee on Freedmen, nearly $200,000.00 in money and 
clothing w^ere distributed by them. The funds and other sup- 
plies distributed by the committee were not all donated by 
Indiana Yearly ^Meeting. Other yearly meetings and indi- 
viduals contributed ; English Friends gave over $36,000.00 



14 History of Southland College 

and the Cincinnati Contraband Relief Commission in 1864- 
turned over to our committee $6,400.00 in money and 
$32,000.00 worth of goods and clothing. 

In 1869 the Yearly Meeting changed the name of the 
committee having charge of the work in the South from Freed- 
men's Committee to Missionary Board on Southland, which 
still continues to be its name. 

SOUTHLAND NORMAL INSTITUTE 

The work of the government through the Freedmen's 
Bureau and the return of peace changed our work in the 
South till finall}'- only the work at the Asylum, now called 
Southland, remained. In 1869 a small, but neatly furnished, 
school house was added to our grounds at a cost of $3,500, 
$1,000 of which was paid by the committee and $2,500 bv the 
Freedmen's Bureau. In the reconstruction of the state of 
Arkansas about this time, liberal provisions were made for the 
education of the colored people, and the Freedmen's Bureau 
withdrew from the state. But before withdrawing they 
recommended to General Howard the appropriation of $5,000 
for the erection of more ample school buildings at the Asylum 
which had developed into a Normal Institute requiring more 
room. The recommendation was assented to and the money 
directed to be paid over on condition that the committee 
should erect the building. The new house, a two-story build- 
ing 32 X 80 feet, was built in front of and joined to the house 
previously built, the whole forming a commodious school and 
church building. The upper story of the new building had 
two recitation rooms on the west; the large east room was 
used for church and lecture purposes, and was reached by 
two flights of stairs going up from either end of the hall 
below, which divided the lower part into two large school- 
rooms. The whole building cost near $10,000. 

In 1873 the school property in Little Rock, owned by 
Indiana Yearly Meeting was sold to the city for school pur- 
poses. Said grounds had been purchased by the Yearly 
Meeting for Asylum purposes, and the buildings erected 
thereon by the Freedmen's Bureau turned over to Indiana 



HiSTCJKV OF SoilTIILAXl) CoLLEOK 15 

Yearly Meeting-. The ])n)perty brouo-ht $5,550. $1,000 of 
wliich was invested in tliirty acres of land on which the 
Maryville. Tennessee, Normal Institute was built; and 
three thousand of the jjrocceds were used in the erection of 
a house for the officers and teachers at Southland. The 
house was 48x42 feet, two stories high, "with spacious 
rooms in the roof." and cost $4,600. Alida Clark collected 
over $1,000 in the East for finishing and furnishing the 
house. The new building^ w^as much needed, as the old 
barracks were becoming" unfit for occu])ancy. and were too 
small for the growing- school. usuall_\- numbering al)out 
forty boarders. 

The home is (lod's first and greatest instrumentality in 
the moral government of the world. Southland was instituted 
as a home for those that had no home. A larg^e part of her 
work has been to train those children and make teachers of 
them whose lives and examples should influence other lives 
and homes. In this she has been eminentlv successful. 
A moral and Christian atmosphere has pervaded the institu- 
tion all the years of her life. Evangelistic and Christian 
teachers have been SL'ut and encourag-ed. and series of meet- 
ing-s held in time of school as though they formed a part of 
the educational course. Students as much expected to attend 
the preaching- service, the prayer meeting-, the Sunday School, 
the temperance meeting-, and take the pledgee of total absti- 
nence from all intoxicants and tobacco as they did to attend 
the daily recitations. And when they went out as teachers thev 
almost invariably org^anized a Sunday School and a Temper- 
ance Society as though they were necessary parts of a common 
school education. And they generally opened their schools 
with Scripture reading and pra\er. 

RELIGIOUS MEETINGS 

In the Eleventh month. 1866. the officers and children to 
the number of seventy-one. enrolled themselves in a religious 
meeting with the i:)urpose expressed in the following- article : 
"In order to build one another up in the most holy faith, 
watch over one another for good, strengthen, encourage, 



16 History of Southland College 

counsel and instruct one another in the way everlasting; that 
we may the more effectually bear one another's burdens and 
so fulfill the law of Christ in supporting the weak, relieving 
the sick and afflicted among us. With a desire that a growth 
in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ may 
be experienced, and, as way opens for it may be joined with 
the Friends of Indiana Yearly Meeting." Meetings were reg- 
ularly held with interest, and in the Seventh month, 1868, 
seven persons applied for membership in Whitewater Monthly 
Meeting and were received. Eight more were received the 
following year, and in the Sixth month, 1870, a Preparative 
Meeting was established by Whitewater Quarterly Meeting 
called Southland, numbering thirty members. In Twelfth 
Month, 1873, a Monthly Meeting, also called Southland, was 
established with seventy-eight members. In 1876 a Prepara- 
tive Meeting was established, twenty miles west of Southland, 
called Hickory Ridge. A lot was bought and a house erected 
at a cost of $800, and for some time the monthly meeting 
was held alternately there and at Southland. The house was 
used for school as well as church purposes and was built 
by eastern and English Friends. A meeting was established 
at Beaver Bayou, twelve miles southwest of Southland, in 
1884, a house erected at a cost, including the two acres of 
land, of about three hundred dollars. The money was raised 
through the solicitations of Alida Clark. Owing to deaths 
and removals the meeting was discontinued in four or five 
years, and the property has since been sold. Southland Month- 
ly Meeting grew from seventy-eight in number, when first 
organized, to about four hundred members as reported in 
1886. A large number of these were students attending South- 
land College who, on returning home or going out to teach, 
joined other denominations, and must not be reckoned as the 
numerical strength of the Monthly Meeting at any one time. 
But the truths taught were not lost ; they were taken with 
them wherever they went, and but few if any schools have 
sent out teachers more thoroughly imbued with the principles 
of Christianity, of sobriety, and total abstinence from all in- 
toxicants, than Southland has. The matron, in her report 
to the Board in 1877, says: "We have sent out about one 



History of Southlaxd College 17 

hundred native teachers, and so far as known all the teachers 
keep the temperance pledge and the non-use of tobacco. The fact 
that they received their education at Southland was a guaran- 
tee of good morals and scholarship. Stanley Pumphrey and 
wife, of England, spent some time at Southland and vicinity 
in 1878 in religious work ; and in a letter he says : "I wish 
to bespeak for Southland the continued interest of American 
Friends. No missionary work more important in character 
or fruitful in results is being carried on by their members." 
Elkanah Beard, after thoroughly examining the working of 
the institution in 1880, says : "The reputation of the school 
is most excellent all through this section of the country. Lead- 
ing men, white and colored, say that Southland is the best 
institution of learning in the state. T have no hesitation in 
saying that the educational and religious interests of the 
mission are most carefully guarded." 



Other buildings were needed for the better accommoda- 
tion of the school, one was study room and dormitory for the 
boys. Elisha Hathaway, of Cincinnati, had subscribed v$l,000 
toward the building of a hall on condition that $2,000 addi- 
tional should be raised. Alida Clark, with the approval of 
Southland Monthly Meeting and the Missionary Board went 
east in the interest of the Southland school. She made a 
somewhat extended visit, collecting v$l,400 iov the boys' hall, 
and $600 for aiding poor and orphan children to educate 
themselves for teachers. Stanley Pumphrey on his return to 
England raised $600 for the erection of the building and it 
was formally dedicated as Pumphrey Hall in April, 1880, 
the 17th anniversary of the institution. 

The dining room in the Barracks became inade(|uate to 
the needs and comfort of the boarders, and a new building was 
called for. The friends of the institution were apprised of 
the needs, and the money for it was soon donated. A large 
and commodious dining room with kitchen and wash-house 
attached was added to the house already occupied by the 
officers and teachers, at a cost of over $2,000 and was first 
occupied in 1873. 



18 



History of Southland College 



In 1878 Benjamin Coates, of Philadelphia, gave $500 
as the beginning of an endowment fund for Southland Col- 
lege. Sarah Slade, of Fall River, Mass., purchased 135 acres 
of land adjoining the college farm for $2,070, deeding it to 
Indiana Yearly Meeting to be sold, as opportunity offered, 
in small tracts to colored people for homes; the proceeds to 
be added to the Endowment Fund. George Sturge, of En- 
gland, in 1881 gave $25,000 endowment to Southland, the 
principal use of the proceeds being to qualify colored per- 
sons of both sexes for teachers. The Endowment Fund has 
since been increased by Phebe Metford, Julia Ann Boyce, and 
others, till now it amounts to nearly $35,000. 

SOUTHLAND COLLEGE 

In 1876 the school was named Southland College, and 
the superintendent, matron and teachers were constituted a 
faculty, authorized to issue to those who had completed a 
given course of study, certificates or diplomas showing the 
course of study completed. 




HAZARD HALL — GIRLS' DORMITORY 



History of Southland Coli.egi-: 



19 



The matron in her report to the Board, in 1881. says: 
"During the severity of last winter's long continued cold 
weather, our girls, many of them, had tlieir feet frosted in 
their old plank collection rooms, after which I began asking 
for money to build them a new hall." Ehzabeth Hazard, of 
Newport, R. I., headed the list with a subscription of $1,000. 
Other subscriptions followed, but the house was not erected 
till 1886 ; it is a three-story building 32 x 40 feet, with 
verandas on each story, facing the south, 8 x 40 feet. There 
are eleven rooms, one 16x32 feet and ten 16x16 feet; a 
hall eight feet wide, for stairways, running between each set 
of rooms. There is also a basement 32 x 40 feet and 7-foot 
story with brick walls. The building cost over $4,000 and is 
called Hazard Hall in honor of the woman who gave the 
largest contribution for its erection. 

The college was now well cqui])ped with buildings suited 
to its needs, but in the autumn of 1887 the institution was 




CKNlkAL HAl.L— DININC; ROO.M, OKKICES 
Teacheks' and Officers' Home 



20 History of Southland College 

visited by a fire that consumed the dwelhng house, dining 
room and kitchen, together with much of the contents. The 
fire originated in a defective flue. The loss was severely felt. 
The buildings were comparatively new and cost over $6,000. 
There was $3,500 insurance on the buildings and the friends 
of the college, east and west, came to her help and the fol- 
lowing 3'ear a handsome two-story building with eleven rooms 
was erected at a cost of $4,750, now known as Central Hall. 

The number of students in attendance has varied in dif- 
ferent years, but usually from 150 to 200. When the district 
scholars were admitted and the public money paid to our 
teachers, the number was much larger. At first all teachers 
were white persons from the North. Ever since colored per- 
sons have been trained in the Southland school and become 
competent teachers, some of them have taught each year. 
In the years 1880, 1882 and 1883 all the teachers were colored 
and all educated at Southland. 

One of the dark days for Southland was when in the 
spring of 1900 the chapel and school building was consumed 
by fire, evidently the work of an incendiary. The Board had 
$12,000 insurance on the several buildings. The companies 
immediately cancelled all the policies, paying the three thou- 
sand on the burned building and refunding the money on the 
unearned policies. The school was continued in the collec- 
tion rooms of the two halls and the basement of the girls' hall 
was temporarily fitted up for chapel and Sunday School pur- 
poses. The people willingly put up with this inconvenience, 
assured it would only be temporary and another building 
would soon be erected. Some of the Friends thought it unwise 
to build while we could get no insurance on the buildings we 
already had ; while others argued that we could not long con- 
tinue the school without suitable quarters, and that if we did 
not have faith to risk another building the companies would 
not insure. The Board decided to build and the present hand- 
some and commodious structure was erected nearly on the 
• site of the old one. It is a large three-story building, up to 
date in all its apartments. All the buildings are now insured 
in reliable companies. 



History of Soi'tttland College 



21 




SCHOOL AND CHAl'KL 



'IMie limits of this sketch torhid the mention of all those 
who had a ])rominent ])art in this work. lUit mention shonld 
be made of Alida and Calvin Clark, who for twenty-two years 
were the managers on the grounds. We mention her name 
first, because, from the nature of the work and her natiu-al 
fitness for it, she took the lead though ably and faithfully 
supported by her husliand. She had a somewhat stern ex- 
pression indicative of an iron will and indomitable purpose, 
but underneath was a heart full of s\mpathy for the orphan 
and the oppressed. She was profoundly imj^jressed with the 
importance of the work she was engaged in. and with her 
tongue and pen she impressed others with its importance, and 
collected most of the thousands of dollars necessary for erect- 
ing buildings and carying on the work. Colonel Bentzoni 
said of her: "Alida Clark was the grandest woman I have 
ever known. With unusual executive abilities she combined 
tenderness of heart and an unbounded desire to hel]) the lowly 
and ncedv." A southern man who was accpiainted with her 



22 



History of Southland College 



during all the time of her residence in the South, sa3's of her: 
"She had more moral courage and invincible determination 
than any individual I have ever met." 




JOSEPH DICKINSON 
CoRRESrONDING Secketary froai 1861 TO 1896 

Mention should also be made in this connection of Joseph 
Dickinson, of Richmond, Indiana, who was prominently and 
continuously connected with the Yearly Meeting's work in 
the South from the commencement in 1864 till his death in 
1896, a period of thirty-two years. He was corresponding- 
secretary of the Southland Board and the real conductor of 
the business while holding the position. 

The school is now provided with four commodious build- 
ings which have cost more than $16,000, a large part of which 
has been contributed by benevolent persons in this country 



History of Southland College 23 

and in Eni^land. Two of tlicse IniiUlinja^s. \iz.. the School 
and Cha])cl. and the Girls" Dormitory, arc heated with 
stcanL There are also ahont 300 acres of j^ood farming;' 
land belons^inj^ to the institutioiL 

Southland College grants two dii)lonias, one from the 
Preparatory and Normal Department at the completion of the 
common school work, and one at the completion of the col- 
lege course. 

The aim of the work done at Southland College and Xor- 
mal Institute has been to make its students useful and safe 
citizens of the comnionwealth. a ])lessing to their own race 
and a benefit to the state, ller success in this line has been 
of great service to that part of the country and its influence 
has extended to adjacent states. The thorough, |)ractical 
training given her students has qualified them to succeed, es- 
pecially in teaching, in which a large number (over four hun- 
dred) of them have engaged; many of them making that ])ro- 
fession their life work. Some of the original children, taken 
as orphans of the soldiers, have taught consecutively for thirty 
to thirty-five years. 

The majority are perhaps rightl\- employed along agri- 
cultural lines, putting the training received at the college 
into making better homes and farms in the South land. Some 
have chosen the ])ractice of medicine, or that of law. while 
others are in the civil service as pension agents, mail 
clerks, etc., filling their respective places with honor and profit. 
Perha])s there is no emploxment more coveted among them 
than the ministry of the (iospel; and as the moral and re- 
ligious training at the college has always been made promi- 
nent, this result might be naturall\- expected, and certainly 
nothing is more desirable for this needy race than intelligent 
and enlightened religious teaching and training. 



